July 17, 2026 — Fishing is one of the oldest commercial activities in New England, and experts with the University of Maine are working to ensure its future remains sustainable.
For the 14th year in a row, Maine harvested over half-a-billion dollars in seafood, around $619 million in 2025 to be exact according to Damian Brady, a professor at UMaine’s School of Marine Sciences.
“We have about 7% of the coastline of the United States, and we produce 25% of the value in seafood,” said Brady.
July 16, 2026 — The following was released by Seafood Harvesters of America:
Seafood Harvesters of America today released the Fisheries Leadership and National Policy Forum Report, a national roadmap outlining priorities to strengthen the competitiveness of the U.S. seafood industry while building on America’s global leadership in science-based fisheries management.
The report is the result of Seafood Harvesters of America’s inaugural Fisheries Leadership and National Policy Forum, which brought together seafood industry leaders, senior officials from the White House, the U.S. Departments of Commerce, State, and Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other federal agencies, and representatives from Congress, to assess the long-term competitiveness of the U.S. seafood sector.
“This was truly a first-of-its-kind convening of government and seafood industry leaders,” said Hannah Heimbuch, a commercial fisherman and Board President of Seafood Harvesters of America. “It was a landmark gathering, built around a shared commitment to strengthening the competitiveness of U.S. seafood and growing America’s global leadership in sustainable, science-based fisheries management. It was clear throughout these discussions that maintaining a strong U.S. seafood industry will require coordinated leadership, strategic investment, and continued collaboration across government and the seafood sector. This report provides a roadmap for turning that commitment into action.”
The report is intended to serve as a resource for Congress, the Administration, federal agencies, and industry leaders as they work together to strengthen the future of U.S. seafood and America’s working waterfronts.
About Seafood Harvesters of America
Seafood Harvesters of America is the leading national organization representing seafood producers from across the United States. The organization advances science-based fisheries management and advocates for policies that strengthen the sustainability, competitiveness, and long-term resilience of the U.S. seafood industry.
July 15, 2026 — The University of Maine is a key partner in a new $15 million U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Regional Innovation Engine that will strengthen New England’s seafood industry through cutting-edge research, technology innovation and workforce development.
Announced by the U.S. National Science Foundation through its NSF Regional Innovation Engines program, the NSF Seafood Engine in New England is led by the Portsmouth-based nonprofit Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems.
The collaborative initiative brings together leaders from the seafood industry, technology sector, government and research institutions across Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island to build a more competitive, resilient and technologically advanced seafood economy.
As a partner in the Seafood Engine, UMaine will contribute expertise in marine science, fisheries, aquaculture, engineering, workforce development and technology commercialization.
Working alongside regional partners, UMaine will help develop innovative solutions that strengthen the seafood supply chain, support coastal communities and prepare the next generation of seafood and blue economy professionals in Maine and beyond.
March 6, 2026 — There was a high level of U.S. seafood mergers and acquisitions in 2025, and 2026 is slated to be favorable for continued M&A activity, according to a new report from Mercer Island, Washington, U.S.A.-based M&A advisory firm ACT Capital Advisors.
According to its latest annual Seafood Industry Report, consolidation last year was fueled by high margins, institutional capital, and the desire to scale fragmented sectors, ACT said.
September 27, 2022 — U.S. government experts and seafood industry insiders discussed the best ways to boost U.S. seafood consumption at the Seafood Nutrition Partnership’s State of the Science Symposium in Washington, D.C. on 22 September.
Between 2012 and 2020, U.S. per-capita seafood consumption rose from 16.8 pounds 19 pounds – and with a U.S. dietary guideline of 26 pounds per capita, there are more gains to be had, SNP President Linda Cornish said.
March 22, 2019 — Women at work in the seafood industry is the focus of an international video competition that’s now open for entries. The scope includes all segments of the industry – fishing on boats, fish farming, processing, selling, managing, research, monitoring, teaching, and any related services.
It’s the second round for the contest that was launched last year by the Paris-based group Women in the Seafood Industry.
“Women are very numerous in the industry, but not very visible,” said Marie Christine Monfort, WSI president, and co-founder.
February 8, 2016 — At 6’3” Richard Craig Shelby, the senior Senator from Alabama, casts a long shadow on the Halls of Congress, welding influence felt in banking, energy, commerce, defense, science and fisheries, especially Gulf of Mexico fisheries.
“I like fresh seafood,” said the Senator relaxing back in his leather chair at the head of his Capitol Hill office conference table. “I especially like Gulf Scamp (a highly prized game and commercial fish in the grouper family). I could live on scamp, my wife and I never throw a piece of that away.”
The Alabama Senator has a single purpose when it comes to the Gulf of Mexico. “I want to make sure the Gulf remains healthy, and that the fish are abundant as they can be, and that all three fishing sectors; commercial, charter-for-hire and recreational, as well as all Americans, continue to benefit from them,” he said.
Born in Birmingham on the sixth of May in 1932, Shelby received a law degree from the Birmingham School of Law. First elected to the Senate in 1986 after winning a tight race as a Democrat, he was among a group of conservative Democrats. In 1994, midway through his second term, he switched allegiance to the Republican Party.
Currently he chairs the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the Senate Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee, and sits on the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Constant Gulf Seafood Supporter
During his term on Capitol Hill, Shelby has been a constant supporter of Alabama and Gulf Seafood, as well as the thousands of people working hard to deliver it to the American people everyday.
“I like to fish, it’s is a great sport,” he told Gulf Seafood News in an exclusive interview. “I enjoy the outdoors.”
In his soft Southern drawl, the Senator said he wants the Gulf seafood industry to flourish because everyone benefits from seafood. “It’s nutritious and provides jobs for thousands upon thousands along the Gulf coast, as well as across the country,” he said. “Be it commercial, charter-for-hire or recreational, I am interested in maintaining abundant, healthy seafood in the Gulf of Mexico that is available to all.”
Read the full story at Gulf Seafood Institute
November 23, 2015 — WASHINGTON (AP) — Impoverished migrant workers in Thailand are sold or lured by false promises and forced to catch and process fish that ends up in global food giant Nestle SA’s supply chains.
The unusual disclosure comes from Geneva-based Nestle SA itself, which in an act of self-policing announced the conclusions of its yearlong internal investigation on Monday. The study found virtually all U.S. and European companies buying seafood from Thailand are exposed to the same risks of abuse in their supply chains.
Nestle SA, among the biggest food companies in the world, launched the investigation in December 2014, after reports from news outlets and nongovernmental organizations tied brutal and largely unregulated working conditions to their shrimp, prawns and Purina brand pet foods. Its findings echo those of The Associated Press in reports this year on slavery in the seafood industry that have resulted in the rescue of more than 2,000 fishermen.
The laborers come from Thailand’s much poorer neighbors Myanmar and Cambodia. Brokers illegally charge them fees to get jobs, trapping them into working on fishing vessels and at ports, mills and seafood farms in Thailand to pay back more money than they can ever earn.
“Sometimes, the net is too heavy and workers get pulled into the water and just disappear. When someone dies, he gets thrown into the water,” one Burmese worker told the nonprofit organization Verite commissioned by Nestle.
November 16, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — A Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group with strong New Bedford ties is creating a national coalition of commercial fishing interests to boost outreach and communication for the industry, which supporters claim often can be overmatched by unified environmental groups that promote competing interests.
“America’s fishing communities and seafood industry have been maligned by special interest groups working in collusion, who have slandered hard-working Americans with outrageous claims and misrepresentations,” Bob Vanasse, a New Bedford native and executive director of Saving Seafood, said in a Monday news release. “We’re aiming to bring the entire supply chain of fishermen, shoreside businesses, processors, markets and restaurants together to join this effort to move the national conversation in a positive direction.”
The Saving Seafood release said the nonprofit, formed in 2009, is conducting a membership drive for its new National Coalition of Fishing Communities (NCFC). Vanasse said the coalition, so far, has about 60 members across the country, including New Bedford’s Harbor Development Commission.
The NCFC will formally launch in Washington in January, during the next U.S. Conference of Mayors event. Vanasse said New Bedford Mayor Mitchell will be chairman of the coalition’s mayors’ group, reaching out to municipal leaders in Seattle, Honolulu, Atlantic City and other cities with strong commercial fishing ties. Coalition members already include commercial fishing associations from Hawaii, Oregon, North Carolina, New Jersey and more.
“I believe there needs to be a stronger voice for fishing communities in the halls of Congress,” Mitchell said.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard -Times